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2025 County Report

Fires in Alexander County, IL

In 2025, fire departments serving Alexander County responded to 120 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $80K property loss.

3,701 residents FIPS 17003 23 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
120
556 across 5 years
Building fires
35
24 wildland
Property loss
$595K
$463K structure · $132K contents
Casualties
1 / 0
1 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.

120
Total Incidents
Building fires 35 29.2%
Grass fire 11 9.2%
Passenger vehicle fire 7 5.8%
Carbon monoxide incident 7 5.8%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 6 5.0%
All other categories 54 45.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Alexander County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 15
Feb 11
Mar 26
Apr 6
May 5
Jun 7
Jul 9
Aug 21
Sep 8
Oct 4
Nov 5
Dec 3
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Alexander County

556 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 95
2022 81
2023 120
2024 140
2025 120
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 35 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
13%
4
Cause undetermined
35%
11
Intentional / arson
13%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
23%
7
Under investigation
13%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $430K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Alexander County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 93% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $80,000 Cairo Building fires Significant
2 $80,000 Thebes Building fires Significant
3 $60,000 McClure Building fires Significant
4 $50,000 Cairo Building fires Significant
5 $50,000 McClure Building fires Significant
6 $35,000 Cairo Building fires Significant
7 $30,000 McClure Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $20,000 Cairo Building fires Significant
9 $15,000 Olive Branch Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $10,000 McClure Building fires Significant
06 How Alexander County compares

Alexander County vs IL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

32.42
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Alexander County
32.42
IL avg
10.42
US avg
7.15
9.46
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Alexander County
9.46
IL avg
1.56
US avg
0.82
270.2
Civilian fire deaths per million
Alexander County
270.2
IL avg
9.9
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Alexander County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 17003.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Alexander County

6 departments report from this county.

CAIRO FD
Cairo
FDID AB121 52 incidents 5 paid
TAMMS VFD
Tamms
FDID AB144 21 incidents 20 vol
CAIRO AUXILIARY FD
—
FDID AB114 17 incidents
McClureEast Cape FPD
McClure
FDID AB134 16 incidents
Horseshoe Lake VFD
Olive Branch
FDID AB164 8 incidents 26 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in IL

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Red Shale RX 2024 FWS 1,290
2 Herrin Flats RX 2024 FWS 1,134
3 Beach RX 2024 FWS 864
4 Hampton North RX 2024 FWS 708
5 Hampton RX 2024 FWS 668
6 Grassy Creek 2 RX 2024 FWS 621
7 Chamness RX 2024 FWS 610
8 Greenbriar RX 2024 FWS 590
9 COR - Devils Kitchen West RX 2024 FWS 468
10 Smith RX 2024 FWS 366

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.